Samsung S90F QD-OLED TV Review: Refined From Any Angle

Comprehensively excellent picture quality. Vivid yet natural colors. Deep contrast and shadow detail. Clear and detailed image processing. Class-leading off-angle image quality. Good motion handling out of the box. Tizen smart system shows real improvement. Easy to set up and dial in. Great features and connectivity.

Not as bright as top flagships. Pedestal stand feels budget. Samsung Smart TV Plus needs to chill. No Dolby Vision.

The Samsung S90F QD-OLED is an unequivocally excellent TV. After weeks of testing, I can hardly find a flaw in its performance. And yet, after being wowed by some of the best TVs ever made this cycle, Samsung’s midrange OLED is missing some pizazz. Ho-hum is too strong a word, but for the last few years, what used to be the OLED sweet spot has suffered from a relative lack of premium punch compared to flagships. That’s because Samsung and LG have been saving their most exciting OLED tech for their priciest sets, and unlike a few years ago, there’s a real visual difference.

None of this takes away from the S90F’s ability to deliver a comprehensively phenomenal viewing experience. While it didn’t immediately dazzle in everyday viewing, diving into high-quality content revealed a TV that continues to refine the little things, with deep and nuanced contrast that LED TVs can’t match, splashy yet naturalistic quantum dot colors, and fantastic processing that brings clarity and realism to every minor detail. Now that its price has dropped by several hundred dollars, the S90F is particularly enticing–especially for anyone yet to be spoiled by the top of the market.

Practically Premium

The S90F’s stand is the least premium thing about it. Don’t get me wrong, it looks good once you snap it together, but like the previous S90D, the faux pedestal design comprises dual stand legs and a rather flimsy plastic cover, similar to more budget-friendly sets like Hisense’s U7 series LED TVs. Credit where it’s due, the legs are crazy simple to attach, with no tools required, and while the main panel’s ultra-thin top feels like a liability during setup, its width of just an eighth of an inch at the top looks like a million bucks on your console.

The S90F lacks Samsung’s latest matte-like anti-glare coating (found on its similarly priced QN90F mini-LED model and the pricier S95F OLED), but the TV still does a fine job minimizing most glare, performing nearly as well as LG's G5.

It's also readily apparent that the 65-inch model I reviewed uses quantum dots for enhanced colors. The trade-off is a backdrop that isn't quite as obsidian as LG’s more traditional OLED screens (called “WOLED”), though like all OLEDs, it's perfectly free of any light bloom around the edges of sharp images. Like previous models, Samsung confusingly equips only the 55-inch, 65-inch, and 77-inch sizes with QD tech, using a WOLED panel for the other sizes.

Behind the screen is a pop-out lower base where you'll find a suite of four HDMI 2.1 inputs with support for VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) at up to 144Hz for high-end gaming PCs. The relegation of two of the inputs beneath the input cubby makes connecting awkward, but considering high-end models like the Panasonic Z95B and Sony Bravia 8 MK II offer just two HDMI 2.1 ports total, I’m not complaining.

Samsung’s micro-sized remote has barely changed year-over-year, and that’s fine by me. Its stubby size is ergonomic and convenient, highlighted by solar and USB-C charging so you’ll never need to replace the batteries.

Tizen Redemption?

Samsung’s Tizen smart software is nearly as swift to set up as the hardware, and here’s where I’m going off script from previous years: Tizen may actually be good now? While this same Tizen iteration gave me fits in the Frame Pro, the S90F performed brilliantly, with swift response and zero streaming hiccups over multiple weeks of testing. This may be because I reviewed the TV later in the cycle, giving Samsung time to update, but I'll take it.

I still have some complaints, starting with the TV’s relentless pursuit of Samsung's ad-based TV service, Samsung TV Plus. The service launches by default during startup, forcing me to sweep through the Advanced Settings and turn it off under Startup Options. Even then, it kept turning on The Fairly Odd Parents on startup, eventually seeming to stop on its own.

Tizen also apparently auto-scans for OTA antenna channels, leaving me confused about how to rescan, while the S90F's lack of ATSC 3.0 support means you won’t get Nextgen channels with features like HDR. One final oddity is that the TV's HDMI CEC Anynet system, designed to interface with connected devices, has a mind of its own, sometimes firing up my Panasonic DP-UB9000 Blu-ray player or PS5 unprompted, while other times ignoring them.

Samsung's Game Hub remains a favorite, offering loads of cloud gaming services, alongside an accessible game bar for on-the-fly adjustments. I really enjoyed gaming on this set, from the windswept islands of Ghosts of Tsushima to Astrobot’s hyper-vibrant multi-level madness.

While the Settings tabs are still oddly split apart, Samsung makes picture setup a breeze. Those looking for the most accurate picture have two choices: Movie or Filmmaker mode, with the latter offering settings so accurate I barely made any changes for SDR or HDR (High Dynamic Range) video. As always, Samsung omits support for Dolby Vision HDR, focusing on the HDR10 standard and the Dolby alternative, HDR10+.

The Little Things That Kill

I set up the S90F halfway through paternity leave, allowing for a lot of quality TV time. As I alluded to above, the TV didn’t immediately knock my socks off in the same way as the top-tier LG G5, Panasonic Z95B, or Sony Bravia 8 II I tested, or the Samsung S95F that wowed my editor. The first thing that really got my attention was Disney’s Skeleton Crew, which provided the kind of glittering stars and gleaming planets in the depths of space that make OLED TVs shine, but got put on hold because it inexplicably woke up our sleeping baby every time we hit play.

Once I started putting the S90F under the microscope with equal parts testing demos and high-production films and TV, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it performed in areas like basic contrast and black levels, screen uniformity torture tests (where I didn’t find a single aberration), and some of my toughest motion blur and stuttering scenes.

In Filmmaker mode, the TV proved incredibly accurate to a director or producer's intent, nearly matching the best flagship models I’ve tested. You may not always agree with the director’s intent, especially for particularly dark content, but you can add some serious pop by changing HDR Tone Mapping from Static to Active (which Movie mode does automatically). The S90F’s shadow detail is so good you may not need to, but it could be useful in bright rooms.

Speaking of bright rooms, this model doesn’t come close to the blasting brightness of the latest OLED flagships or high-end LED TVs, many of which can top out at an eye-watering 4,000-5,000 nits of brightness. Still, with well over 1,000 nits peak brightness in small highlights, the S90F has more than enough punch for anything you can stream, but flashy Blu-rays like Mad Max: Fury Road or Hellboy can look slightly muted in the brightest scenes.

Even so, I found myself entranced by the TV’s cinematic touch, with high-end processing that equates to fabulous detail and colors that pop without ever looking overcooked. Nature shows like Netflix’s Our Planet are especially beautiful, seeming to draw you into the luminous chaos of a busy coral reef or the emerald-aqua pools of a mangrove forest—the reason you buy a TV like this to begin with.

In another notable triumph, the S90F has among the best off-axis accuracy I’ve ever tested. You can sit way off to the side (as far as you can still see the screen) with no noticeable reduction in color accuracy or brightness. That's an area in which virtually all LED TVs struggle mightily, and even most other OLEDs can’t match. If you watch from all angles, this is a great screen.

In general, whether the S90F is right for you will depend on your TV experience. Less persnickety folks looking for more pizazz will find a good option that's cheaper from QLED TVs like the Hisense U75QG or the TCL QM7K, though off-axis viewing, accuracy, and clarity all take a major hit. For Videophiles looking to be wowed with an upgrade over their current OLED, I recommend going up a tier to LG’s G5, Sony’s Bravia 8 MK II, or Samsung’s S95F, especially if you watch a lot of Blu-rays.

Even though higher-end screens look a touch finer, the S90F won me over with its accuracy and quality. From the revamped Tizen OS to a nearly flawless visual performance, this is a confident and accomplished mid-tier OLED at the top of its game. As it slowly drops in price in 2026, it will only become more compelling.